Life Mentality
by RayOfDarkSunshine
Summary: Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh. [ON HIATUS]
1. Painting Flowers

**Title: **Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary: **Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **So, this story has been a long time in the making. Mainly because I think I might have lost a few brain cells watching as much Yu-Gi-Oh as I did over the summer. This story is basically the final product of boredom and nostalgia. I got into YGOTAS whilst on holiday and felt as though I should relive my childhood and re-watch the original YGO series. Then this idea came to me and I admit, it's probably not one of the most unique ideas but I always liked it. So, here's where our journey begins and you're welcome to come along with me if you want. I hope you enjoy it.

-Oh and each chapter will be named after a song that fits the content, deal with the slight weirdness-

* * *

**Chapter 1: **Painting Flowers

/_When everyday we're runnin' in circles, such a funny way to fall. Tried to open up my eyes, I'm hopin' for a chance to make it alright._/ Painting Flowers by All Time Low

~*Rayne's POV*~

I love my friends, in a totally non-weird-kinda-friendship kinda way. I honestly don't know what I'd do without them, I suppose in a way the complete me. I know a lot of people say that but those are the people who fall out with their friends easily, get into fights, lie and cheat. Liars are the worst sort of people and I hate them. I hate people who lie, that's why I love my friends because I know they would never lie to me, I mean we have no reason too. Well, maybe in exceptional circumstances. I sighed and shifted positions on the wall I was sitting on and Travis, one of my friends, turned to look at me.

"How long are they fugging going to take?" Travis asked.

Travis has been my friend all the way through primary school and through high school too. He's about the only person I talk to who I've known from my earlier years. When I first met him he was a small and shy six year old and now he's a tall shy sixteen year old. Around most people he's nervous and doesn't say much, mainly because, he's told me, he doesn't really like people. I don't really understand how he can go from being shy around some and outgoing around others. Doesn't bother me though, I wouldn't have him anyway else. He recent got bright red streaks in his fringe, done by another one of our friends, Mia.

"I dunno, but Sethy did say that the buses were running late," I replied.

"Typical bloody Mia, can't walk the length of her," Travis replied.

"Don't blame it just on Mia," I snapped.

It probably was her fault though, punctuality isn't exactly Mia's forte. Never been since I met her when I was twelve and just a little first year in school. The only reason I spoke to her was because I sat next to her in English and was forced to work with her on paired tasks, talking to her after that became that bit easier but even so Mia was originally a bit intimidating. Even when she was twelve her hair was dyed two colours and she wore a thick coat of mascara that outlined her green eyes. She still looked little and girly though, especially in first year. Even though she had the wild coloured hair, mascara and lots of opinions, she still wore the knee length skirts and wouldn't really stand up for herself. She's grew out of most of that nowadays.

"Fug buses, look who's running," Travis said pulling on my arm.

I looked round and sure enough Mia was running up the street, her black trench coat flapping behind her, and dragging Seth in tow. I rolled my eyes. Seth and Mia aren't related but they spend that much time together you'd think they are. Seth has a passive personality and is easy to confuse and manipulate which is a large downfall. That's one of the reasons he stays close to Travis, that way he won't be taken advantage of. It's a little bit sad that people can't just leave somebody alone. Then again Seth was brought up by his grandparents and home schooled until he was fourteen, he never had much social interaction before that and Travis was his first friend. Mia ran up panting heavily brushing her crazy rainbow hair out of her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry about this," Mia gasped out. "Buses were taking too long."

"Have fun running?" Travis asked towards Seth.

"Shut up, try having sprinter there dragging you along," Seth retorted.

I laughed and jumped off the wall along side Seth. School had finished and we were determined to have some fun since we still had homework, even over the summer. I walked in between Mia and Seth as we headed towards the town centre. Mia was rabbiting on about something or other, Seth had his headphones in, Travis was staring into space and I wasn't really listening. Mia stopped suddenly.

"Guys can you hear that?" Mia asked.

"Hear what?" I asked.

"Listen, it sounds like a clock," Mia replied frowning.

I listened intently but couldn't hear a thing. Seth too looked as though Mia was going crazy.

"I can't hear anything Mia," Travis said.

"No, listen, it's coming from this direction," Mia said and she took a left.

On our left was, to put it lightly, a shady looking set of woods. Either Mia was trying to scare us or she really did hear something we didn't but it made the rest of us follow her. She walked deeper into the woods and knelt down suddenly next to a fallen tree. There was a large hole at the base of the tree.

"There, it's coming from in there," Mia said pulling her phone out of her jacket pocket and using it as a light.

"Mia, there's nothing there but a hole," Seth said.

"No, there's defiantly something there," Mia said and then her phone fell from her grasp.

It was as though it was in slow motion, Mia was there suddenly and then she wasn't. Travis knelt down and peered into the darkness looking for a light before he too fell.

"Travis!" Seth shouted and actually jumped into the hole.

I rolled my eyes before closing my eyes then I heard it, the ticking sound sure enough it was come from the hole. I knelt down and looked into the darkness, I couldn't see Mia nor Travis nor Seth but I could hear the ticking. I shifted my hand positions and suddenly I felt the air rush past me and into the darkness I fell too.


	2. Misfit

**Title: **Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary: **Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **And here's chapter 2, I'm trying to roughly guess how long this story is going to take but right now it's gonna take a while. I'm trying to plan what I can cut out and condense down but for the time being it's going to be a long ride, hope you guys come along. Anyway, here's chapter 2. I'm having an actual blast writing this. Enjoy

* * *

**Chapter 2: **Misfit

/_Don't keep puttin' us down, no messin' around, we're standin' our ground. We'll keep on makin' this noise, the girls and the boys, we're changin' this town_/ Misfit by Thebandwithnoname

~* Mia's POV *~

I've done some pretty stupid stuff in my life. I'm meant to be smart, have a high IQ and all that jazz but I have no common sense what so ever. Which has lead me to do some pretty stupid stuff, beforehand the worst I had done was agree to smoke, which I never actually did because I chickened out at the last moment but now, falling down a fucking hole seems to cap everything. I groaned and opened my eyes, I expected to see the sky but my eyes were met with a dull white ceiling. I sat up just as Seth began to stir too.

"The hole...Mia fell," Seth mumbled rubbing his head, his eyes still shut.

Seth opened his eyes, looked at me and then at his surroundings before scooting back against the wall and shaking. I knew Seth well and as much as he had a very passive personality, he wasn't easy to scare. To see him chalk-faced and shaking was a rather unexpected turn. My own hands were shaking as I crawled past Rayne and Travis whom still hadn't woken up. I took Seth's hand in mine.

"W-w-what happened?" Seth choked out.

"I dunno Sethy," then I remembered. The weird ticking sound, the hole and then nothing. "Maybe Rayne or Travis know."

I let go of Seth's hand and made my way over to Rayne, I kept noting the room. It was like a bizarre mix between both Travis's and my own homes living rooms. I shook Rayne slightly and she groaned and pushed my hand away. I shook her again and this time she opened her eyes, albeit sleepily. Then she sat up suddenly and threw her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"You're okay!" Rayne exclaimed. "Oh my slash fan fiction I thought you died or something!"

"What!" I replied and then I sighed. "Can you remember anything 'cause I can't really."

I usually had a really good memory and not being able to remember anything was a scary experience. I could remember meeting Rayne and Travis at the bus stop, walking along the street and then hearing that really weird and loud ticking noise and then I ran into the wood but I couldn't remember anything after that. I looked over at Rayne, she was twiddling with a piece of her brown hair, something she did when she was nervous. I could tell by her lack of words that she too didn't remember anything either. Rayne moved closer to Travis and began to shake him furiously, she was clearly frantic. Travis moaned and pushed Rayne away in a dreamy fashion, Rayne shook him again and Travis sat up rubbing his eyes and glaring at Rayne before glancing around the room.

"Somebody gonna tell me what's going on?" Travis asked.

"We would if we could but none of us have any idea of what's happened," Seth replied honestly.

"Seriously!" Travis snapped rubbing the bridge of his nose in small circles.

I stood up and walked over to the window, glancing out all I saw was a regular city, it could even be the city we lived near for all we knew. Rayne was trying to talk to Seth who had buried his head in his arms and refused to look up, Travis too was looking around. He opened the door on the far side of the room and stuck his head out before gesturing to me to come over. I walked past Rayne and stood behind Travis. The door lead out into a long(ish) hallway with five other doors in it. Travis gave me a look and walked out the door. Rayne had got Seth onto his feet and they too were following us in the exploration of the house (I guess).

"Okay, four of us, five rooms, choose one and tell what it is okay," Rayne said taking charge.

We nodded in agreement and set about it. I took the first room that was facing the room we came out of (the living room was the best guess). I opened the door and suddenly felt a chill of déjà vu, I was looking into a bedroom but it wasn't just a random bedroom. It was Travis's bedroom, the one he had in his home. I could hear other gasps and then Rayne came running down the hall to me, she grabbed onto my hand and dragged me out of the room and into the one next door. My mouth fell open at the sight. It was my bedroom. Dark purple walls, British flag on the wall, numerous pictures of my friends and me on the walls. The whole shebang. I backed out shaking my head.

"No this can't be right," I backed up against the wall and slid down to the floor. "What sort of sick fuckery is this!"

"Mia, okay this is weird and surreal and stupid and crazy but just calm down okay," Seth bent down next to me, looking me into the eye.

I breathed out, thankful for Seth's calm composure at times like this. Seth's hand was outstretched, I took it and stood up and we all headed back into the living room. I flopped down onto the floor and looked between my friends.

"So what now?" I asked.

* * *

~* Seth's POV *~

I sighed, things had suddenly flipped on their head and we couldn't explain it. I think that was the scariest thing, not being able to actually explain what happened. We were sitting on the floor of the living room knowing that we were the only people here. Rayne seemed the most composed out of the four of us then again she always knew how to keep her cool under stressing circumstances.

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Travis asked.

"First find out where we are," Mia suggested.

"Then figure out how to get home," Rayne said next.

Rayne stood up and walked over to the window and look out again before turning to come back over to us then she stopped. The kitchen was joined onto the living room and I watched as Rayne walked over to the table in the middle of the room. I stood up and walked over to her. She looked, to sat the least, confused. On the table was a note and a watch.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Rayne replied.

Mia suddenly appeared behind me and looked at the watch. It was one of those old style pocket watches that you saw people in old movies with. It was gold and hanging on a gold chain to match, the clip that held it on to your clothes was also gold. Mia studied it carefully before pushing a button which caused the watch to open.

"It's broken," Mia said. "The hands are stuck."

"Maybe it needs wound up?" Travis asked.

"Anybody seen a key?" I asked.

Rayne wasn't paying attention, she was busy reading the note. I looked over her shoulder and scanned the paper quickly. I looked at Rayne who looked back at me with utter disgust. Mia finally put down the watch and took the paper from Rayne who looked very pissed.

"So we can't go home unless we find the key to the watch so wind it up," Mia asked. "What bullshit!"

"So basically that watch holds our whole lives, our reality?" Travis asked.

"I guess so," I replied. "So what, are we in some sort of alternative reality."

Mia was still reading and put a hand in front of my face to shut me up before she read out more of the note.

"Find the key, wind the watch and you will return. If not, you'll be living in this reality forever," Mia recited. "You are in... Oh great it gives us instructions."

"Give me it," I said taking the note. "Domino City...I took advanced Geography and I'm pretty sure there is no city in the world called 'Domino City'. You start school.. Oh for the love of jam, we have to go to school, this reality sucks."

I shoved the paper into Travis's hands and continued to, stupidly, pout like a five year old girl, then again what sort of alternative reality makes you go to school.

"In a week, everything has been prepared for..." Travis stopped and Rayne gave me a look. "Rayne and Travis Keery-Fayers and Seth and Mia Foyd-Brimley."

Mia looked shocked. If there was anything she hated more than posers it was double barrel surnames. I had began to laugh at Mia's expression, Rayne too was laughing. Though it was funny, she just stood there looking slack-jawed and confused then she found her voice again.

"There is no way in hell I am sharing Seth's name. There is no way in hell I am having Brimley stuck onto my surname," Mia raged.

"Sorry hun but until we figure out what this key is, we're stuck here and you're going to have to deal with it," I said still giggling.

"Hey it could be worse, I've got Travis's name first, mine doesn't even get top billing," Rayne said with a smirk.

Mia just glowered, until we could figure out what to do about this key we had to get we'd just have to learn to live with each other and deal the good with the bad.


	3. High School never ends

**Title: **Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary: **Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **I'm actually loving writing this story! And now, finally three chapters in the cannon characters actually appear. This will probably bring an end to the non-canon things, just to shove things along a bit because a lot of build up can be _as boring as ass _so yeah. Here's chapter 3! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3:** High school never ends

/_And you still don't have the right look and you don't have the right friends. Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends. High school never ends._/ High School never ends by Bowling for Soup

~* Travis's POV *~

"I feel stupid," Mia muttered shifting her school bag from one shoulder to the other and looking down at the map we had.

"You look stupid," Seth said giggling.

"Just wait boy-o, I will pound your face into the ground!" Mia snapped.

Rayne looked just as uncomfortable but, unlike Mia, she kinda suited the school uniform. It wasn't that we had never had to wear school uniform before because we had to back home. Except they weren't as... colourful nor were Mia or Rayne forced to wear skirts. I think that's what got Mia that most and sure when she needs too she'd wear a skirt but mostly it would be shorts or jeans (even to school), it was sure rubbing her up the wrong way.

"Well at least you don't look fucking stupid," Mia snapped at Seth who was still laughing at her.

"That is true, geez Mia you look so twee it's adorable," Seth said laughing.

"That's it! I'm going to fucking stab you!" Mia shouted and began to chase Seth who'd taken off running.

Rayne looked at me, I rolled my eyes and continued walking. There was no point in running because they'd come back in a minute or so. This wasn't the first time Mia had made a death threat towards Seth and as much as he was a quiet guy, he sure knew how to antagonize Mia or just anybody for that matter. He was learning to stand up for himself more. We caught up with Seth who was being pushed against the wall with Mia yelling at him.

"Call me twee again! Say it again!" Mia shouted.

"I'm sorry!" Seth shouted over Mia. "I'm sorry."

"Damn straight," Mia said letting go of Seth before pulling him into a hug.

I could see Rayne, out of the corner of my eye, trying not to burst out laughing. Mia consulted the map again before looking up, her face still flushed from running and her wild rainbow hair was all over the place. Then again it was always like that. There was nothing perfectly in place about Mia, even her sanity. Rayne took the map from Mia and began tracing streets with her finger trying to find the direction we were going in. It was weird having to use a map to get places, we knew our home town like the back of our hands and now we were place that we didn't know and couldn't easily navigate.

"We go to the end of this street, take a left and then at the end of that street should be the school," Rayne said folding the map and putting it into her bag.

"Yay," I muttered sarcastically.

There was nothing about going to school I was looking forward too. I didn't like any school I'd ever been too and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that I wasn't going to enjoy this school any more than the other ones. Besides school was school was school and it was never going to be fun. We rounded the corner and saw the school at the end of the street. There were other people in the uniform heading in the same direction, safe to say we didn't mess up map reading. Mia gaving me a worried look but I gave her an encouraging smile to which she partly returned to me. Luckily she had Seth to hang onto and as much as I like Rayne, I don't know how much of her I was going to be able to take. After all how much of one person can you take?

"This is going to be fun," Rayne said sarcastically.

"Oh yes, very," Mia returned.

The note, which was tucked safely in my pocket, said we were to go to the office before school started officially. We headed closer and I noticed how Mia began to shrink more and more into herself, as much as she could be a bright, crazy, loud person. Mia could also be quiet and shy, especially around people she didn't know or around large groups. People were glancing her way and it was probably because of her hair. Rayne took Mia's hand and smiled at her.

"We can get through this, just think about what we dealt with back home," I whispered to Mia.

"Yeah, we can do this," Rayne said with an evil looking smirk.

We walked by the people who were still gawking at us like gormless idiots (then again most teenagers were) and into the main entrance of the school which was (luckily for us) sign posted for convenience and for us helping making sure we found the correct place. When we walked into the office we stood for a few moments before the receptionist even noticed we were standing there despite having looked at us when we walked in. She gave Mia a questionable look before talking.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, we were told to come here," Rayne spoke up. "We're just starting today."

"Oh yes," the receptionist said jumping suddenly into action. "If you give me a few moments, Ill get the necessary forms together."

Rayne looked over at Seth who was toying with his hair, he looked very nervous. I could never understand how people like Seth and Mia could go for one extreme to another in a matter of moments. For Seth it could be loud and playful to quiet and withdrawn. Mia it was loud and random to shy and awkward. Rayne just stood by trying to maintain a semi-professional composure. She liked people thinking highly of her. We stood about for five minutes until the receptionist reappeared with forms for each of us.

"Just fill your names in and answer the questions, the head will be down in a few moments," the receptionist said before disappearing again.

* * *

~* Rayne's POV *~

Travis pulled out the paper with our "names" on it and it also contained the answers to most of the questions, other ones were multiple choice. I'd never changed schools in the middle of the year so I didn't exactly know what to expect, it felt weird having to write down my name but with Travis's name also attached to it. I finished filling out the forms and handed back to the receptionist before sitting back down in between Mia and Seth.

"So what now?" Mia asked handing back her forms.

"I guess we wait," Seth replied.

"I hate waiting," Travis commented.

Just as he said that the door to the office opened and, who we suspected was the head teacher, walked in. He just looked like any other teacher, Mia grabbed onto Seth's hand (as an after thought I guess). I breathed out and tried to look calm even though inside I was screaming because to be honest, I was freaking terrified as the rest. I was just better at hiding it than the rest, I quickly glanced behind me at Seth and Mia who gave both me encouraging smiles.

"I'm Mr Bellamy, welcome to Domino High School, now if you could please follow me."

Talk about short introductions, I could hear Mia trying not to giggle. She found it funny that it was basically a 'Hi, now move on' sort of basis. We followed Mr Bellamy down the corridors, the school had gone in a few minutes beforehand and so the place was virtually empty except for a few people who were clearly late (yet still had time to stare at us). We stopped outside a room and Mr Bellamy looked over at Mia and Seth.

"You two are going to be in Miss Kato's class," he opened the door and lead Mia and Seth inside who gave both Travis and myself fleeting glances back.

Travis and me stood about outside for a few minutes when Mr Bellamy reappeared we continued to follow him down more corridors. The school was certainly smaller than my other school and I had a pretty good sense of direction so it wouldn't be hard to find my way about. Once again we stopped outside another classroom and I gave Travis a look which he returned.

"Okay you are going to be in Mr Aiza's class," Mr Bellamy said opening the door.

I wanted to back out of the room and never come back. A number of the class looked up at the exact moment I chanced looking up too. Travis patted me on the shoulder but I rolled my eyes and sighed. I wasn't nervous or anything, I just didn't like being stared at like the majority of the worlds population. Mr Bellamy left and we were left with our new teacher. He looked down at Travis and me and gave us one of those false teacher smiles that they do to people to "attempt" to make them feel more comfortable. If anything it creeped me out... a lot.

"So you are Rayne and Travis right?" Mr Aiza asked.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you," I said politely as I could handle.

"Okay, well let's seat you now," he said.

I looked up seeing a few empty seats and neither of which were together. Guess I wasn't going to be sitting near Travis any time soon. I was pointed to a seat between two different boys, one who stared at me and the other didn't even glance in my direction. I sat down and stared dead ahead before letting my eyes fall to the desk. I glanced back at Travis who looked equally as uncomfortable.

"Hello there," I looked to the boy on my left who had spoken. "My name's Ryou."

"Rayne, it's nice to meet you," I said shyly.

I was not good around people I didn't know, shy would be one way to put it but also awkward. Especially if it was a guy who was talking to me. I glanced back at Travis who was smirking triumphantly towards me.

"What class are you in first?" Ryou asked.

"Um," I pulled out my timetable, which mirrored my former one at school. "History, room 213."

"My class is on the way there, I could walk you there if you want?" Ryou offered.

Any other girl would be happy a guy was walking them to class. I was just glad I wasn't going to get lost on my first day. I was hoping that Mia and Seth were having as much luck as this, Travis too who was actually surrounded by girls (all over them were eyeing up in a really weird manor). When the class ended I stood up and waited for Travis so I could find out what he was in. It wasn't the class I was in but we agreed to meet up at break along with Seth and Mia.

"Thanks for this, I'd probably get lost without the help," I said honestly but quickly added. "Usually I have a good sense of direction but not for the first time."

"That's okay, you aren't expected to know the place inside out on your first day," Ryou said.

He went to walk off to his own class but before, turned one last time to talk to me.

"If you want, you could come and sit with my friends and me at lunch if you want, your brother can come too," Ryou said.

"Oh, um, sure yeah," I said with a smile.

My brother... he meant Travis. It felt weird knowing that I had to pretend that Travis was my brother, the same way Seth had to pretend Mia was his sister. That was not going to be an easy feet to pull off. Especially since the two were not exactly anything alike. Looks wise or personality wise. The two classes before first break seemed to drag on forever, mainly because I had to catch up rather quickly on what was going on. It wasn't too bad, just plain annoying. I was thankful when I met back up with Travis at break.

"It's just as bad as our old school," Travis commented. "C'mon let's go find Mia and Seth."

We wandered outside and quickly spotted Mia (thank you rainbow hair). She was standing with Seth and a few people we didn't know. Though I did see Ryou. His hair, like Mia's, was kind of hard to miss. I walked up to Mia and tapped on her the back which caused her to jump. She turned to face me and grinned.

"I wondered when you'd show up," Mia said grinning.

"You've been here a few hours and you've already got yourself a cult," Travis said noting the group of people. "Nice going girly."

Mia gave Travis a disproving look before going ahead and introducing us.

"This is Rayne and Travis," she turned back to me and Travis. "This Is Joey, I met him earlier and he's gonna let us hang out with his friends."

"Yay for not being complete loners on the first day," Seth said laughing slightly.

I'd never had a large group of friends, the most I ever hung about with was three and that was Seth, Mia and Travis. It felt weird to be spending time with eight people, it was hard to keep up with the conversation at times but I think I did my best, I don't know about Seth though he'd gone quiet and rarely spoke unless he was asked a question.

"How do you actually know each other?" Teá asked.

"We live together," Mia said with a grin.

"Because that doesn't sound weird at all," Seth commented.

"What?" Mia snapped back.

It took a moment for everybody to catch on, well everybody except from Mia who continued to be confused and question Seth's rather strange sense of humor. Eventually Travis decided he'd be the kind one and explain what Seth actually meant.

"He was implying you were a lesbian," Travis said.

"Oh..."then it clicked. "Oh! Hey! That's it! You're going down bro!"

Mia took a dive at Seth and began to chase him for the second time that day. I looked around the group of people who were all laughing along. I smiled inwards.

"_This is going to work out just fine._"


	4. Do it now, remember it later

**Title: **Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary: **Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **Yes I am going by MOST of 4Kids American dub mainly because that's what I know best, so please don't hate me. Plus it's really hard to locate the Subbed YGO episodes past Duelist Kingdom but I will probably mix some of the aspects together. Now for the second note, I will be condensing down probably a lot of the story because, at times, it does drag slightly. Especially later on but let's not dwell on it now. Here's chapter 4. Enjoy!

-Oh yeah...This chapter contains more swearing than normal...sorry if you're offended by this-

* * *

**Chapter 4: **Do it now, remember it later

/_Seen this place before back when I was young and I had something more to prove. Now that I'm older I've seen all the things that I want and I'm ready to make my move_/ Do it now, remember it later by Sleeping With Sirens

~* Seth's POV *~

I was sitting on a desk with my arm around Rayne watching Yugi attempting to teach Joey how to play duel monsters. I say attempting because as much as he was catching on, it was at a very slow rate. He was obviously trying hard though which was cool, the game had gathered a large crowed and most people were watching. Mia and Travis weren't here though and were missing out which was a bit of a shame. I peered over Bakura's shoulder so I could see what was going on.

"Hey Joey!" Yugi called with a slight giggle. "Earth to Joey! Hey are you in there? It's your turn."

"Aw isn't he cute when he's thinking," Tristan cut in pulling Joey into a light headlock.

"Hey Tristan, Yugi here's teaching me how to play Duel Monsters," Joey said showing Tristan his cards.

I could feel Rayne giggle into my shoulder when Joey pushed Tristan away. I guess there was better things we could be doing with our time rather than watching Joey and Yugi but to be honest the time before school was pretty damn boring. It was funny though because Yugi was really good and Joey was, well, average. I know Mia had been getting Yugi to teach her to play but I don't know how well that was going, she wasn't the easiest person to teach things too. I had to tutor her one time and let's say it didn't end well.

"Thanks a lot!" Joey said shortly. "A card that card totally wipes me out."

"Which means you lost...again," Rayne chimed in cheerily.

"I'd like to see you do better," Joey called to Rayne.

Rayne simply laughed because she knew that she was never going to do any better than him, well actually she'd never tried. Like Travis, Rayne was more a observe and support person rather than participate. Mia and myself were more hands on and get involved. Yugi was lucky though, since his grandpa owned a game shop he got, as Travis would say, all the breaks. It wasn't exactly an accurate wording but it was the best at the time.

"...Okay, maybe I could even get my Grandpa to show us this super rare card he's got," Yugi said smiling.

School went by as usual, boringly slow and kinda of soul crushingly terrible but it wasn't all bad. At lunch I told Mia and Travis that we were going to see Yugi's grandpa's rare card which Mia was, obviously, interested in. Anything with the word rare in front instantly catches Mia's attention, she's determined to get things that nobody else is going to have. As much as it seems rude, she does it so that she's not a 'sheep' to the rest of society which, I guess, it acceptable. The end of the day couldn't have come fast enough, it was just one of those days where I wanted to fall asleep every five minutes.

"Mia," I said finally after we'd listened to her talk non-stop for the last half and hour. "Stop talking. Please, for once in your life. Just stop."

"Fine, but just for now," She replied as we walked into the game shop.

It wasn't like what I had expected. You always saw the cool game shops that have all sorts of rare, awesome, geeky stuff (basically Mia's heaven) and that's exactly what you got yet it had a somewhat homely feel to it which made it welcoming and not as though you'd be chastised for touching anything. Unlike the ones back home where you had somebody looking down your neck everywhere you moved but that might have just been because of Mia, she was notorious for touching things and picking them up, Rayne was too. You needed to keep them on a lead if they went somewhere they liked.

"Please! Please!" Yugi pleaded, Joey followed suit in his own form of begging.

I personally didn't understand the whole shebang but Mia, Rayne and Travis seemed to get a kick out of it so I couldn't really stop their fun and be a stick in the mud. The funny thing was Joey attempting to trade kind of...lack cards for this really awesome rare one. Lest to say that didn't work out...at all. Talk about special if there was only four of them in the world. I could literally see Mia dying inside because she couldn't have it. The door to the shop snapped open and, along with everybody else, turned to see who had walked in.

"_Kaiba_?" I wondered, I guessed he wasn't exactly popular judging by everybody's reactions.

"Doesn't he have a big fancy company to run? What's he doing down here?" Tristan said outloud.

Kaiba took a step inside the shop and I couldn't help but feel slightly afraid, he certainly didn't look like a friendly guy. It looked as though he wore a permanent scowl because his 'smile' looked strained and very forced, to sat the least I could tell that there was something seriously wrong with him.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I came to see the card," Kaiba said, his voice hard.

It didn't take long for things to become tense. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mia and Travis ready to jump in if anything were to happen. They wouldn't let anything slide and if there one sort of person who, I knew, rubbed Travis up the wrong way it was big headed twats who didn't know how to stop and Kaiba was turning out to be just that sort of person.

"I am the number one ranked duelist in the country, and the favourite to win the Duel Monsters championship. Hah, you wouldn't last two minutes in a duel against me!" Kaiba sneered.

"Well who gives a shit!" Mia yelled steeping forward with Joey who was also out to protect his pride.

"Whoa! Take it easy, guys," Yugi said stepping in front of Mia and Joey.

"Why are you protecting him!" Mia snapped. "Insulting my friends isn't something you can get away with easily!"

It was then that Kaiba, to put it lightly, nearly face-desked the counter staring wide eyed at the card in Yugi's grandpa's hand. I'd seen the look before, longing. It was the same look Mia had every time she saw 'vintage awesome'. I took me some time to realise that Kaiba actually had a _fucking briefcase _full of cards with him. Who carries that sort of thing around? Once again I could see Mia looking as though she wanted to dive into the case and live there in her own small world.

"Look face it, he's not going to give you is!" Rayne finally stepped in moving between Kaiba and the counter pushing him back lightly. "I don't know who you are but you seriously need to learn to act like a decent person and not just demand everything because that's going to get you shit!"

Rayne, bless her heart, wasn't the most confrontational person so to see her step up and actually do something was quite amazing. I was more worried, however, about what was coming after. Kaiba looked as though he wanted to punch Rayne (if he tried anything I was going to jump in) but instead he just straightened up and glared (one scary glare), took his case and left. I could hear him muttering something as he left, which no doubt was an insult.

"What a fucking twat," Travis snapped. "Seriously who does he think he is. He needs to be taught a lesson."

"Face it Travis, he's clearly one of those spoilt rich brats who is, one day, going to get his head kicked in and I am the one wanting to do it," Mia replied.

Violence never solved anything but I guess Mia had a point, he did just seem like one of the common place arsewholes who needed put in their place. Travis and Mia, no doubt, would have a whale of a time kicking the shit out of somebody like Kaiba, even if it never happened. I couldn't quite say I hated him but there was something that could potentially be _worth_ hating at some point, he just annoyed me.

"Don't worry Mia," I said patting her shoulder. "Just keep your murdering to yourself. Okay?"

I know it shouldn't have bothered me so much but I couldn't stop thinking about that Kaiba guy, he just gave me chills every time I thought about him. There was just something that kept me on edge and it wasn't a good thing. A few days later, after the incident in the shop, we were once again heading home with Yugi to hang out but when we got there the place was empty. When the phone rang, Yugi picked it up. I couldn't hear who was on the other end but I could tell something was wrong. Very wrong.

* * *

~*Mia's POV*~

I didn't know exactly what was going on but I knew something very bad had gone wrong. I knew it had something to do with Kaiba, honestly I think I had a sixth sense for things like that. I ran just behind Joey with Rayne running behind me. She looked scared which, in turn, scared me. It was an all-of-a-sudden shift in pace. Everything had been happy beforehand and now we were running to find god knows what. We all ran into the tall office building and piled into the lift, I could see Seth wringing his hands which was something he did when he was nervous.

"_This isn't good, this isn't good_," I thought to myself and sure enough it wasn't good.

I couldn't stop the gasp. I wanted to kill somebody at that point. Kaiba specifically, I knew I had found the new person I was going to hate. I didn't care if he had more money, power or influence that freaking brat was going to be taught a lesson. He was going to fucking deserved it.

"How's the old man feeling?" Kaiba asked appearing in a doorway.

"Kaiba, you sleaze. What've you done to him?" Joey yelled, anger clearly flooding his veins like my own.

"We had a duel, that's all. With each of us putting up our most valuable card as the prize. But I guess playing against a champion like myself was just too much stimulation for the old fool," Kaiba replied as though it was nothing at all.

I clenched my fists and was prepared to punch that fucker in the face. I took a few angry steps forward but Rayne caught my jacket.

"Mia don't," Rayne warned but I didn't care.

"You know something Kaiba, you're full of shit!" I yelled beside myself with rage. "You think you can just do whatever you want! Well guess what! You can't!"

Rayne dragged me back and cut me off in mid rant and gave me the most dangerous look I'd ever seen her give me. That was when I saw out of the corner of my eye Kaiba ripping up the vintage awesome card that we'd been shown a few days ago, I knew I'd be condemned by Rayne if I began my rant again so I swallowed my pride and stood back to give somebody else some talking time.

"That sounds like an excuse. Your friends can care for your grandfather while you and I duel... unless you're afraid?" Kaiba jeered dangerously.

"Afraid of you? Bull-shit," Travis shouted. "You could win against Kaiba any day! Just go for it!"

Seth decided to go with Teá and Tristan to the hospital while Travis, Rayne and myself stayed with Joey to support Yugi. I wasn't going to miss Kaiba getting his arse kicked by Yugi. I stood open mouthed with Joey, Travis and Rayne at what I could only presume to be real monsters. Call me crazy but it seemed like shit had just got real. I knew Kaiba was a bit crazy but not to this extent.

"You're not faring any better than the old man did, Yugi. Your deck is just as weak and feeble as your grandfather," Kaiba sneered.

"My grandpa is a great man, and a better duelist than you'll ever be. He entrusted me with his cards and I can feel his heart in this deck. I doubt you have that kind of faith in your cards, Kaiba," Yugi retorted.

I'd never seen anything like this and frankly it was pretty mind blowing anything less would be lying and I think Rayne felt the same way I did. That was when Kaiba turned tables and summoned 'The Blue-Eyes White Dragon'. I frowned, he had torn that card up. It was gone, done for if you so kindly put it.

"Your Fierce Knight is destroyed. Faith or no faith, you will fall before my superior monsters, Yugi. Power is what this game is all about, you fool. Faith is for losers... like your pathetic grandfather. In your entire deck, there's not a single card that can stand up to a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. So what hope do you have against two?" Kaiba mock asked.

I felt bad, like I knew something bad was going to happen. Out came a _third _dragon and I knew that it was fucking over. Rayne was shouting encouragement like a madman (madwoman?). Time seemed to pass slowly after that. Then, I guess it was pretty damn amazing, Yugi summoned this huge (and kind of evil looking) monster that completely wiped Kaiba out.

"Fuck yeah!" I shouted without restraint. "See Kaiba, you're done! So much for power always winning. Faith wins each time! Ha! In you're face, you suck Kaiba! You-"

"Mia! Shut up," Travis snapped.

I didn't care that my prancing about had been silence. All that mattered was that Kaiba had lost, Yugi won and that was that. I knew something was right though, like this wasn't quite over yet. For now, however, it was.

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	5. Let's Kill Tonight

**Title: **Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary:** Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: What's this? Do I sense PLOT! **Oh, wait no. My mistake. I'm skipping ep 2 only because it's boring and only a duel between Pegasus and Yugi and nothing much else happens. So yeah, jumping ahead to episode 3. Basically Mia gets into Duelist Kingdom (it'll be explained) and gives Seth one of the star chips because she doesn't want which, in turn, gets him into the tournament. Trust me, this works. I made sure. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5: **Let's Kill Tonight

/_Let's kill tonight! Kill tonight! Show them all you're not the ordinary type Let's kill tonight Kill tonight! Show them all you're not the ordinary type Let's kill tonight!_/ Let's Kill Tonight by Panic at the Disco

**~*Rayne's POV*~**

I could feel the coldness of the watch resting against my skin. Seth had given me the watch to wear while she was gone. I'd actually totally forgotten that we were meant to be looking for a key for the watch so we could get home. I'd been so caught up in just trying not to blow our cover and pretending to be normal that it had slipped my mind. Travis, Mia nor me knew Seth had been wearing the watch. I guess he wanted to keep an eye on it, after all Seth was the most trustworthy person for things like this. He gave it to me for safe keeping while expecting Travis and me to stay home while him and Mia went off to Duelist Kingdom with Yugi. Seth was a good player and Mia was second best, I know he only halved his chances so that he wouldn't be without one of us.

However Travis and I weren't going to just sit back and let our best friends go off to some island without us. It just wasn't happening, I made the plan with Travis to sneak on board to boat to Duelist Kingdom because I wasn't going to let Mia or Seth be without us. That was when Teá and Tristan too agreed to sneak on with us. Before this I would never have considered doing anything like this, even for friends and although it seems selfish it was just the way I was. My mum told me never to get into trouble and be as polite and caring as I could.

I wonder what she would say if she found out I was sneaking onto some random boat to go to some random island just so my friends wouldn't be alone. Would she be proud? Would she be mad? I looked down at the watch which was hanging around my neck. I'm sure my mum would be proud. You do for family what you do for friends. I watch Travis who was peering around the crate we were sitting behind and I smiled, with him, I knew I was safe.

"Their distracted, let's go," Teá said.

"Okay," I whispered and we moved into one of the open crates.

I sat with my back against Travis's arm while Teá sat with her back against the side of the crate and Tristan faced me. It was a tight fit but we made it, just. When the crate was placed on to boat Teá jumped more than a little and was quickly silenced by Tristan. It felt unnatural, all this sneaking about and hiding. It just wasn't something I did naturally, I sat still before taking Travis's hand, he looked over to me slightly confused. I shifted closer so he could hear me better since we had to talk quietly to one another.

"Are we doing the right thing?" I asked.

"What? Why wouldn't we be. This is for our friends remember and hopefully find the key to this watch," Travis said pulling on the chain so it was not tucked inside my jacket.

"It just doesn't feel right though, like we're criminals doing a really horrible crime," I said fearfully, my natural disposition was catching up on me.

Travis placed his hands on my cheeks and made me look up to him. He was smiling sweetly at me and as much as I felt safe I couldn't shake the feeling that we were doing was horribly wrong and that we should never have considered it in the first place.

"There is nothing wrong with this, we are doing this for Mia and Seth. There was no way in fugging hell we were going to let them do it alone," Travis replied.

"You're right," I said wrapping my arms around him in an awkward hug.

I needed that reassurance that we were doing this for our friends, we were doing this so they wouldn't need to be alone. Travis pushed the crate open and we slipped out. I was glad to get some air and took a few deep breaths before following Teá, Tristan and Travis into more hiding but luckily this time it wasn't as cramped. We stuck our head around a corner and saw Joey, Yugi, Mia and Seth standing talking to some blonde woman. I could tell by Mia's body language that she didn't like what was going on.

"Look, you're either a champ or a chump. Cut this guy loose. He's fashion challenged and deserves to be crushed in the games," the blonde person said.

I couldn't hear what was said next but Teá clearly heard it.

"How arrogant. There's nobody better at playing Duel Monsters than Yugi," Teá said definitively.

"Quiet, they'll hear you," Travis said pulling Teá back behind the crate.

I was beginning to loose feeling in my legs from the way I was sitting and even though I had my jacket on I was freezing cold. I snuggled closer to Travis who had taken his jacket wrapped around the both of us. Again Teá stood up to look about, she had been doing it on and off during the ride and it was beginning to get annoying. Travis stood up and took her hand.

"Sit down Teá, do you want us to get caught?" Travis asked.

"But it's freezing, how can I stay still?" Teá asked, I felt sorry for her, she didn't have a jacket.

"Just try okay, it's only for a few more hours," Travis replied taking his jacket off and handing it to Teá.

Teá was about to sit down, after putting Travis's jacket on, when she stopped and turned to us.

"Isn't that Bakura?" she asked.

"As in Ryou. Ryou Bakura from school?" I asked, I hadn't spoken to him in a while.

"Seriously," Travis said poking his head out.

Sure enough it was. I would recognise the white hair anywhere. I look to Travis who looked as confused as I did. I didn't know he played duel monsters, well I didn't know much about him in a whole. I used to talk to him regularly but as I got closer to Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Teá, I spoke less to Ryou.

"What's he doing here?" Tristan asked.

"Maybe he's in the tournament," Travis replied.

"Possibly," I said and we moved back into the shadows.

I sat with my head against the wall and closed my eyes. Boat rides sure were boring.

* * *

**~*Mia's POV*~**

I was standing shuffling my cards and watching Yugi and Joey out of the corner of my eye. Yugi was talking to his duelist, Weevil I think his name was, and every word out his mouth grated on my nerves. They way he sounded when he spoke reminded me of this boy I went to school with before who lived to make my school days a living hell and the thing that made me remember him the most was his voice. High, nasally and very annoying. I glanced over at Seth who glanced back and rolled his eyes.

"Could I possibly see those legendary cards?" Weevil asked.

"I don't see why not. Just be careful with them. Okay?" Yugi replied.

I placed my own cards back inside the plastic case that hung on a chain that was clipped around my belt loops. I walked over to the railing next to Joey and stood looking out at the ocean, I just wanted to hear the rest of the conversation in better detail. I never judged anybody, much, but I could tell something was up but I couldn't say it outright. I had been known as a paranoid bitch before and I wasn't going to let it happen again to me. I could feel Seth watching me. I turned to lean my elbows against the boats railings and I don't know how I missed it but the next moment I saw Yugi's Exodia cards being thrown into the sea.

"My cards! Those were the Exodia cards that my grandpa gave me!" Yugi exclaimed.

"I'll get 'em!" Joey said throwing himself over the edge of the boat.

"Joey!" I shouted and jumped in after him.

Okay, so that was a stupid move and I knew it was the moment my body hit the water. The waves were rough and the water was freezing, not to mention my clothes were dragging me down. I swam closer to Joey who was attempting to get the cards back which were luckily floating but the water was not making it easy, every time I went to grab one another wave moved it out of my reach.

"Mia, you're gonna kill yourself!" I heard Seth shout.

"Joey, they're not worth drowning over!" Yugi shouted.

"It's okay, totally fine!" I called back grabbing at one of the cards.

Then the waves picked up again and dragged both Joey and me under. I've never drowned in my life, I never knew what it was like. I'd heard stories of people being pulled under and the very thought terrified me. I had deliberately thrown myself into a dangerous situation so help my friends and I might die for it. Then somebody grabbed my by jacket hood and pulled me back to the surface. I panted for breath and saw both Seth and Yugi had jumped in too.

"Don't kill yourself please," Seth said with a smile.

I laughed weakly, even in the scariest situations Seth always knew how to lighten the mood.

"Yugi!" I looked up to see Teá standing on the ship with Tristan, Travis and Rayne.

"Going for a swim?" Rayne shouted.

The four let down a ladder for us to climb up, god knows where they got it from. I climbed up but I was shaking from the cold, Seth gave me a gentle push and when, after what felt like ages, I got back on deck I was pulled into a tight hug from Travis and Rayne. They both looked freaking terrified as though they had seen a ghost.

"I can't believe you!" Rayne exclaimed.

"Well believe it," I replied shivering. I looked at the soggy card in my hand before looking at Yugi. "I did that for nothing. We didn't even get the cards back."

"It's okay guys," Yugi said kindly.

Joey looked even more downhearted than I did.

"It's not okay. It's always this way with me. I'm never able to help anybody. Not even my own sister, Serenity," Joey said, almost bitterly.

"Sister?" Travis questioned.

"Really," Teá said looking shocked. "You have a sister Joey."

Joey looked distant. I looked over at Seth who was nibbling on his lip before averting my gaze back to Joey. How could he not have told anybody something like this. The first thing I did when I made friends was do this funny 20 questions dealio and family usually came up. He managed to hide having a sister for I dunno how long which I guess made him good at keeping secrets. I felt pretty bad for him though and I didn't even know why.

"The doctors told her that the time has come. Soon her eyes will be impossible to repair, even with surgery. But there are specialists who could perform an operation now, before it's too late. They could save her eyesight. But... there's no way I can pay for the operation. I have to win. For her! Winning in the Duelist Kingdom, and getting the prize money, is the only way I can help Serenity!" Joey said sadly.

I looked away. Now I felt really bad for him. I had one younger sister called Emi and I would do anything for her. Protect her and try to be the best sister I could. Joey was like that, he only wanted to help Serenity. I finally knew why I was going to Duelist Kingdom, not just to help Yugi but to help Joey too and I'd be damned if I couldn't help.

"You know what," Seth said suddenly. "We all have our reasons for going here. Friends and family alike. And we're all going to do our best so as of now, we are going to be like one family. Okay, keep an eye on each other because, let's face it, we're never going to do this alone."

"Right!" Travis said with a grin. "We'll do it together."

I looked to my left and saw something in the distance. At the bow of the ship the sun was rising and in the distance was an island. I smiled feeling the wind on my face and rays of the early morning sun raising my spirit. Rayne stood on one side of me and Seth stood on the other.

"We'll both do our best, Joey! You, for your sister. And me, for my grandpa," Yugi said firmly.

When we finally docked my clothes had mostly dried and luckily cards hadn't got wet either, guess the plastic case I got was pretty waterproof. I was sick of hearing that announcer guys voice, he was like the head of my old school shouting even though we could hear him just fine without him shouting. I looked over to Seth who gave me a smile and then gestured towards Rayne and Travis who were leaning against the wall.

"How are they going to get in?" Seth whispered to me.

"Just walk off casually, just like nothings happened," I whispered back.

Teá and Tristan seemed to be having the same conversation but a lot more frantic. I explained what to do which was seemed easy enough. I walked down the ramp talking casually to Rayne just like I did every day and Travis and Seth did the same, our conversations weren't important we just didn't look any of the weird suited guys in the eye. However Tristan walked down looking like a fucking soldier which caught the suit guys attention.

"I think I just had a heart attack," Tristan commented.

"Yeah, smooth," Rayne commented with a smirk. "Very casual."

"Okay now we're here, what do we do?" Travis asked.

I rolled my eyes as did Rayne and Seth. It was then I noticed Weevil standing just a few paces away from us, I was determined to get back at him for ruining Yugi's Exodia cards and I'm sure Joey felt the same, Yugi too.

"Welcome all duelists," one of the suit guys said. "Please follow the stairs to meet your host."

"Seriously, there's stairs?" Seth whined.

"Oh man up," I laughed running on ahead.

Duelist Kingdom had began and nothing was going to stop me.

* * *

**Review? :3**


	6. Alibi

**Title:** Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary:** Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **And a wild chapter 6 appears. I don't know what I'm doing anymore but people seem to like it. Please note, I'm writing this on the whim that you guys have seen the dubbed anime ('cause that's what I'm going on) so sorry if some of the description is a vague. Anyway, thanks for the reviews and let's keep trucking on because I'm not going to go any faster writing notes now am I? Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6: **Alibi

/_We both could see crystal clear. That the inevitable end was near. Made our choice, a trial by fire. To battle is the only way we feel... alive_/ Alibi by 30 Seconds to Mars

**~*Travis's POV*~**

Climbing stairs. I hated them during school and I hate them now. Call me lazy but frankly I couldn't care less. We the bloody stairs never seemed to end and I seemed to be the only one struggling. Mia had bounded ahead, the hood on her jacket bouncing with every step she took. Rayne and Seth walked side by side in a gentle silence, they too were climbing with ease. Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Teá all walked in silence and it was weird. Then again there wasn't much to talk about, we each had our own goals and ideas on what to do. I had a feeling that Seth wasn't going to stick about though after this. Teá stopped suddenly.

"Huh, what's that," she said looking over the banister of the stairs.

"What do you see Teá?" Yugi asked.

I stopped and looked over as did everybody else. All I saw though was trees and bushes in a never ending stretch. If Teá could see something then I was going blind but there honest to god seemed to be nothing there.

"It looked like Bakura," Teá said pointing outwards.

"Bakura from school," Yugi asked, he hadn't heard that we'd seen him earlier.

"Again with this Bakura stuff," Tristan said a few seconds after Yugi.

I looked again but saw nothing, Rayne shrugged towards me and ran to catch up with Mia who had only realised we'd stopped. She clearly just wanted to get to the top. I stood for a few more moments, I did believe Teá but the way that it seemed he just disappeared made it seem like a weird ghost that only certain people could see.

"Where is he Teá?" Joey asked.

"That's two times I've seen him now but he's not there anymore. Maybe it's all in my head," Teá said quietly.

"Yeah, you're going crazy," Seth called back.

I patted Teá on the shoulder and ran to catch up with my friends, giving Seth a push for being rude. Just because he was my friend, I didn't allow him to be a rude twat at times and he was meant to be the gentleman of the group. I waited for Joey and Teá to catch up before we all began the tedious task of walking, and for me crawling, up the stairs. When we, eventually, got to the top I expected something...grander, I suppose. It looked more like an army barracks rather than a "castle" with the heavy steel doors and dull sandstone but people seemed to think that this was an amazing structure. Guess they've never been to Edinburgh then. I could hear people whispering about various duelists, the names Rex Raptor and Mako Tsunami popped up and all I knew about them was that they were famous duelists (what can I say, I don't listen). It was when the Kaiba was mentioned I saw Mia snap to attention. She had declared war on him and won't rest 'till she hits him. I guess, in justification, he does kinda deserve it for being the egotistical twat that he is.

"Attention, please gather around," I was getting sick of guys in suits. "Your benevolent host is anxious to greet you all."

I don't know what I was expecting but what I got certainly wasn't it. When he walked out onto the balcony I could hear Mia and Rayne giggle next to me, I knew what they were thinking but I wasn't going to partake in their childish fun, something was off about Pegasus and I couldn't put my finger on it. He just looked..._wrong. _I know how that sounds but he just sent the feeling that he could see right through you.

"Boy would I like to get just five minutes alone with that guy," Joey said somewhat darkly.

I nodded subconsciously to Joey's statement before Pegasus started talking.

"Greeting duelists, I am Maximillion Pegasus, it is my great honour to welcome you all to the Duelist Kingdom. You stand before me, the worlds greatest duelists," I could see Seth and Mia roll their eyes. "But come tournaments end, only one shall be crowned king of games. I implore you all to assemble your dueling decks with care, with creativity and with cunning. For this competition will test your skills like never before. To track your progress in the tournament, you've each been given a dueling glove and two precious star chips. You must wager these star chips on each dule you compete in. To advance to the final level and a chance at the three million dollar prize, you must win ten star chips..."

He said more but I zoned out, this didn't concern me. I didn't care, I was only hear to support Mia and Seth, Rayne too. Pegasus finished his speech and headed back into his castle. I turned to Mia who looked very red in the face, other than Rayne and Teá there didn't seem to be very many girls about. However I didn't think that was the problem.

"King of games," Mia sneered. "Kinda sexist, I mean I know there aren't that many girls here but who knows, one might win."

"Shove your feminist bollocks down somebody else's throat please," Seth asked, he didn't care much for Mia's rants.

"Says the most sexist guy we know," Rayne snapped.

I stopped caring. They had an hour to prepare and although it seemed like a long time, it really wasn't. We left the outside of the castle and headed out into a field next to a forest, Joey seemed to be having second thoughts and even offered to give Yugi his star chip back. I could see Seth rolling his own around in his fingers. He would never do something like that. Suddenly the sky began to light up.

"The fireworks!" Teá said, as though we couldn't see. "It's starting."

"You ready!" Mia said jumping up, she'd been rearranging her own deck.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Yugi said with a grin.

Mia smiled before turning and running off.

"Hey Mia! Where you going!" Seth shouted.

"Sorry, I've got my own plans!" Mia shouted back waving us off. "I'll see you guys later!"

Seth looked slightly shocked as Mia disappeared into the distance. Rayne suddenly took off after Mia shouting after her and giving us a quick wave. Seth folded his arms looking rather pissed off, he had agreed to come with the intention of sticking together.

"Those girls," Seth grumbled.

"It could be worse," I said brightly.

Seth shook his head looking towards the ground. I gave everybody a quick smile and we all headed off. We'd been following a trail we'd found a while back and the place seemed pretty deserted, everything was just so still and quiet. I talked to Seth in a low voice walking behind Tristan and half listening to what Joey and Yugi were saying. Yugi seemed intent on settling the score with Weevil, which I guess is fair enough. I bumped into the back of Tristan not noticing everybody had stopped.

The term 'speak of the devil' seemed to fit well as a few feet ahead of us Weevil was standing with his back to a dense forest. From where I was standing I couldn't see his face but I was sure he'd be wearing that sly grin he always had on his face. Something told me to hate him and hate him I did. Nobody ballsed over my friend and got away with it.

"Weevil!" Yugi shouted. "I challenge you to a duel!"

I think Seth expected something dramatic but all that happened was Weevil turning away and running.

"I can't believe it!" Joey exclaimed. "Weevil's running away."

"Believe it mate," Seth said running by Joey. "Cause it's true."

We began to chase Weevil into the woods and just as we did thousands of moths suddenly came out of nowhere. Seth suddenly froze, I stopped and grabbed on his arm. Seth had this irrational fear of butterfly's and Moths or anything like that and thousands of them weren't helping. I dragged on his arm.

"Seth, if you stop we're gonna lose Yugi and we're not going to see Weevil get his arse kicked, so please don't do this now," I nearly begged.

"But there's so many!" Seth choked out.

"Fuck it," I snapped.

I grabbed Seth's arm and dragged him onwards ignoring his cries of protest, I wanted to see the little creep get smashed by Yugi and I wasn't going to let my paranoid friend stop me from seeing it happening. Eventually we caught up with Yugi and co, Weevil was standing in the middle of a clearing.

* * *

**~* Seth's POV *~**

"All right Weevil, time to find out if you're as good at dueling as you are running away," Yugi said with a smirk.

"Was I running away or was I cleverly weaving you into my web," Weevil replied, his voice gave me shivers.

"It's time to duel," Yugi said ignoring Weevil's statement.

Weevil began to laugh. There was something seriously wrong with the guy and I mean _seriously, _he just seemed wrong. After accepting the duel (in a totally over the top fashion) the ground began to shake, I fell against Travis who grabbed my arms to stop me from falling. I could only guess that Weevil had something to do with this as he was laughing the whole time. I'm sure Mia would have a field day tearing into him.

"What have you done!" Yugi demanded.

Weevil just continued to laugh as the ground suddenly opened, I jumped back and fell as I watched, what looked similar to the arena Yugi beat Kaiba in, come up through the ground. It was huge and over the top, then again this whole thing was organised by Pegasus and something about that man just screamed 'FOP'. He sure acted like it.

"Man, these aren't going to be like the duels back home," Joey exclaimed.

"You said it," I countered.

Once again Weevil began to speech, he didn't talk. He just said everything as though it was an important speech as well as making bad bug based puns.

"You've just stepped into a hornets nest and there's no way out!" Weevil announced.

"What is that?" Yugi asked quietly but still sounding dangerous.

"These giant arena must be set up all over the island," Joey said.

I nodded, it was over the top and pretty damn weird and freaky. I was beginning to feel doubt settle in the pit of my stomach. I should have ran off with Mia and Rayne when I had the chance. Weevil and Yugi went to respective sides of the arena and I stood back with the rest.

"I don't like this, Weevil's just too cocky," Joey murmered.

"You don't say," I replied. "But Yugi'll wipe the floor with him."

I had totally forgotten that, like Mia, Yugi had given away one of his star chips to Joey leaving him at the disadvantage. The only thing we could do was hope now that Yugi had a good plan on how to beat Weevil or it was goodbye to him and as much as I had faith in Joey I also doubted that he would go as far as Yugi could.

"You'd risk your Grandpa's deck? Fine with me," Weevil said ending with a laugh. "Winning all your cards will be an easy way to exterminate you once and for all."

"Exterminate!" Teá exclaimed.

"Swat that little twerp like a mosquito!" Joey shouted.

I didn't have anything to say but Weevil's overuse of bug related puns were getting to me. I know Travis also wanted to simply see him getting smashed which was hopefully going to happen. That was until I saw the projection. The were freaking huge! I thought that Kaiba's projections were advanced but this was something else. I should never make expectations because after one turn Yugi's monster was defeated and as much as I knew, they were meant to be equal. I turned to Travis who looked as confused as I did. Then it hit me.

"You cheater! Ever heard of a little thing called fair play!" I shouted. "You lead us here because you knew you'd have the advantage!"

But a few seconds after the words had left my mouth, Weevil's oversized wasp had burst into light and was gone from the field.

"What have you done with my monster!" Weevil demanded! "This makes no sense! My creature was super charged with the field bonus but according to this, Yugi's monster become somehow just as powerful!"

"Looks like my mammoth got a field bonus from the wasteland just like the bugs in your forest," Yugi announced triumphantly.

I wanted to dance, Weevil may have cheated but Yugi was still coming out on top. The island we were on was pretty unique, different lands on one place and each one perfect for different types of monsters. I though Weevil was going to give up but he didn't, he began to laugh, his weird glasses glinting in the sun. Why would he be laughing?

"You're awfully clever to put it altogether like that Yugi," Weevil sneered. "But figuring out one rule won't be enough. There are surprises hidden under every rock and I know them all."

"Oh crawl back to your cave you over grown bug!" Travis shouted.

I could see the death glare that Travis received but all I could do was laugh. Little by little, Weevil's game plan was unwinding no matter how intimidating he tried to be. He summoned another monster that made me want to climb up a tree. I know that the projections weren't real but the thought of giant beetles and wasps and bugs in general made my skin crawl. Yugi attacked with his own new monster but nothing happened.

"Yugi's attack didn't even phase that thing," Teá said looking shocked.

"Something's screwy!" Joey snapped

"My imps magic lightning attack should have destroyed your beetle, is this another trick Weevil?" Yugi announced, I could tell he was getting pissed off.

Another perk to field bonus announcement later by Weevil meant that magic attacks were basically useless against Weevil's monsters. I glared up at Weevil who shot a smirk back and I could feel the hate welling in my chest.

"Even that four eyed ticks weakest bugs are going to be tough to beat as long as he's got that field power bonus," Joey snapped.

"It's not exactly like it can just be turned off," Tristan said.

"Totally out matched but anything could happen," Travis said. "We just need to hope."

More people were beginning to watch the duel between Weevil and Yugi which just spurred them on even more. I couldn't help but feel bad for Yugi, he really was totally outmatched and now basically unable to use any of his magic attacks. Luck really wasn't on his side. His smart move was to put his next monster into defence which only caused Weevil to sneer and make another snide, unnecessary comment.

"Did that bug just get canon?" Travis asked. "Logic has just been killed, buried, resurrected and killed again."

"He's fucked, totally fucked!" I said wrapping my arms around myself.

Weevil was a total psycho in my books. Plus his creepy obsession with bugs was unnerving, there was nothing to like about him. He was a cheat and no doubt didn't know the meaning of fair play but I guess it didn't matter as long as he won. Yugi's monster was completely obliterated by the canon bug but it wasn't the attack that caught my eye, it was how Yugi looked as though he was in pain when the attack his. How could it hurt, they were just projections.

"You're going to have to do better than that if you hope to survive my bugs lazer powered arsenal," Weevil sneered.

Everything seemed to be going to pot and sure enough Weevil seemed to have Yugi cornered. We all acknowledged that, I looked to Travis who looked more than pissed. He looked as though he wanted to rip somebody's head off. Weevil really was pushing it now and I didn't know how much longer Yugi was going to hold out.

"So?" Weevil asked. "Does my tightening web make you squirm?"

"Look you big headed brat!" I shouted. "Stop bragging and bloody play the damn game!"

I could hear Travis muffling laughter, but it really was true. Weevil was just pushing his ego and his luck but he was paying no attention to the actual duel. I had this desire to tackle Weevil once the whole duel was over and done with but I knew Travis would totally kill me for it, he saw no need for violence, didn't stop him being mouthy though. They kept drawing cards and Weevil kept on being an egotistical twat. I knew things were beginning to press though, I could see it in Yugi's face. He had a strategy though, I could see it. Yugi never lay any cards down and just kept on drawing while Weevil kept placing cards down with every move he had, while still making bad puns.

"Just look at our Yugi, he's so confident up there," Teá said, sounding confident herself. Seems she had no doubts about this.

"I know, when he's dueling, it's like he becomes a totally different guy," Joey commented.

"Yeah, that's true," Travis agreed. "Then again when people are under stress they tend to act different."

There really wasn't much we could do but stand back and watch. Which I hated. I needed to do something. Yugi layed down the Dark Magician and Weevil took, what I suppose was bait, and used that weird canon bug monster to attack and fell right into a trap. I grinned, Travis grinned and fuck we all grinned. We knew Yugi couldn't be beaten so easily. Yugi's card caused a counter attack and Weevil's life points dropped dramatically.

"Ha!" Travis shouted. "Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!"

"You're a liar and a cheat Weevil," Yugi announced. "But it was your over confidence that allowed me to get the best of you. Your insects are decimated and your life points are low and as you, yourself, said before: you've used up all your monsters."

"Actually, I lied about that too," Weevil countered.

Travis groaned beside me. That just proved the liar part and he said it himself. Joey and Tristan didn't seem to care, the support of friends goes far. Really far! I just wished that Rayne and Mia were here too, but it was their choice to go their own way. I just hoped that they were doing okay, especially since it was mostly guys in the tournament, they might think of Mia as a weak target. What a shock they'd get. I smiled to myself as.

"All right, you've got him on the ropes!" Teá yelled happily.

"Yeah right," I turned to see Mai Valentine standing behind us. "You losers don't seem to realise who your little pal is up against. Weevil's regional champion he's got moves your shrimp couldn't even dream of."

Mia and me had met Mai on the boat along with Joey and Yugi. Maybe it was because Mia was generally a tomboyish girl or she just didn't like people with large ego's, she instantly took a dislike to Mai. I can't say I liked her too much either, she was rude and thought way to highly of herself as well as belittling anybody she obviously thought wasn't worth her time (example, Joey and Mia) however she seemed to like me, which was creepy. Nobody ever liked me on the first glance. I was always the second choice. Teá looked pissed as hell, guess she didn't like her much either.

"Nobody asked you!" Teá burst out. "So why don't you just take a hike!"

"And miss the chance to watch a champ like Weevil, if he turns this around no way," Mai said indignantly.

"Yeah, Weevil really came from behind to win the regional's," Joey agreed.

I rolled my eyes. He only liked Mai for her tits. This also pissed off Teá since they were meant to be on Yugi's side and not Mai's. Good thing I liked my girls dark haired and flat chested because it was obvious Joey had a thing for Mai going against the redness of his face. I turned my attention back to the duel but my concentration was wavering. It was more fun to be part of the duel rather than watch it, now I know why Mia had ran off, she didn't want to be stuck watching. Weevil feigned worry for a while, his ego once again inflating. Maybe it was the crowd that had gathered or he had a genuine reason for being like this.

* * *

**~*Rayne's POV*~**

"Okay, you lost, hand over the star chips," Mia asked her opponent who meekly handed it over, then I suppose she had an after thought. "Since you're completely out of the competition, how about handing that glove over. My friend needs that."

I couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the guy, he'd been completely demolished by Mia and was now, with no star chips left, was out of the competition. Not only that Mia was also taking his glove to give to Seth who actually didn't have one. She headed back over to me, fixing her newly gained star chips into place.

"I think today's going to be a good day," Mia said with a smile.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked.

"What?" Mia asked.

I sighed and shook my head. It didn't matter, Mia was competitive and as far as she was concerned, winning was the only option. The island was pretty vast and people, few and far between. It had taken us ages to find our first duelist and the duel wasn't long, Mia used dark and death styled cards which fitted her personality perfectly but they were creepy and evil looking which really caused me to question my friend. We were walking through the woods when Mia stopped, talk about deja-vu.

"Hey look over there," Mia said and sure enough there was a large crowd of people standing around. "Wanna check it out?"

"Sure," I said with a smile.

We walked over and edged in, I glanced up and saw Yugi! I tugged on Mia's arm who grinned suddenly looked at me with an excited grin on her face. Obviously she knew something I didn't, I folded my arms and gave her a look.

"What?" I asked.

"That's Weevil, he's the one I told you about. The one who chucked away Yugi's Exodia cards on the boat, I hope he gets his arse well and truly thumped," Mia said excitedly.

"Oh, now that makes sense!" I said grinning too.

Nobody screwed over our friends and got away with it. We looked around but we couldn't see any of the others but it didn't really matter, we'd catch up with them later. Now we just wanted to see Weevil get wasted, we'd missed most of the duel and it looked as though Weevil had drawn, what looked like, a giant brain.

"Okay, that's disgusting, talk about the worst deck choice in history," Mia murmured to me with a snort.

I could only agree wholeheartedly. It was disgusting and weird and made me want to be sick. Yugi valiantly tried to crack open the giant brain, cocoon thing. Yugi drew more cards, I couldn't hear what it was but by Weevil's reaction it seemed as though it was a good move. However this seemed to change suddenly. Mia let out a shriek.

"That thing is fucking disgusting!" Mia shrieked pointing at Weevil's newly emerged monster.

And true enough it was disgusting. It was basically a giant, green moth. I generally didn't have any problems with moths, but this one...too far. Huge, green, moth. There was nothing right about it, I could see Mia wanting to run away even though she used undead monsters which could be counted as ten times worse. I knew if Yugi could beat Kaiba then he could easily beat Weevil's creepy bug...things. Weevil attacked with that moth and wiped out Yugi's defense, I sighed.

"Rayne, look!" Mia said grabbing my arm. We watched as Yugi's two monsters connected together to create one monster. "But it looks as though it's loosing still."

"Seriously?" I asked. "Is there no easy way out of this shit?"

I sat on the grass, leaning back on my elbows, and watched the remainder of the duel as Yugi lost yet more life points, dropping down to fifty, after Weevil's monster attacked him. Weevil was cheating? I sat up, Mia looked down at me as Yugi summoned a monster she'd had her eye on for a while. Then final attack was done and everything went down in a blaze of lighting and explostions. I jumped up.

"Fuck yeah!" I shouted to nobody in particular.

"Let's go see him," Mia said grabbing my arm.

We ran around the dueling arena to catch up with the rest, it was Seth who spotted us first and run up pulling Mia and me into a hug.

"Did you guys see it?" Seth asked.

"Not all," Mia replied honestly before opening her bag. "Here, take this, you're going to need it."

She handed the glove to Seth and zipped up her bag, Yugi seemed to intent in another conversation. I turned to Travis who had ran up a few moment after Seth did.

"Fancy switching places?" I asked. "You go with Mia, I'll stay here."

"No, I want to go with Mia," Seth said defiantly.

"Oh, right, okay then," I said with a smile.

I watched as Mia and Seth walked away, two duelists together before turning back and heading to the rest of the gang, congratulating Yugi on his win. This was just the beginning though.

* * *

**Review :3**


	7. Bones

**Title:** Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary:** Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **Sorry for the wait, I was ill, had school tests and was getting far too engrossed in YGO: 5D's (the best of the spin offs) but here we are with a new chapter. Mia and Seth are going to be out of the story for a few chapters (i.e. until Duelist Kingdom ends, lol no). Also, I'm going to skip over a lot of the Duels by simply stating who won and who didn't because let's face it, I don't want my chapters to drag because of Duels, so there are two episodes (6/7) in one chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 7: ** Bones

/_They say the spirit's willing but the flesh is always weak. I found everything I needed, right beneath my skin, oh_/ Bones by Young Guns

**~* Rayne's POV *~**

"Okay, bring 'em on! I'm itching to duel and I'm taking on the next player I see."

Joey was raring to go and I couldn't blame him, he was finally able to start dueling since he took Weevil's glove. Couldn't say I was sorry to see the back of Weevil because I really wasn't, the kid was a little rat who deserved everything he got. I know it's mean to say that but he was one heck of a nasty piece of work. Mia would probably say the same thing about Kaiba. I stood beside Travis who was looking rather happy, it had been a while since I'd seen him genuinely smile and maybe it was the atmosphere of Duelist Kingdom or just Joey's enthusiasm that was changing his mood. Either way it was nice to see my friend smile again.

"Y'know, I'm not too sure Joey's up to this," Teá said honestly.

"Why? I'm sure he'll be fine," Travis said looking confused.

"Well there are tournament level plays here," Tristan cut in. "But don't you think he's smart enough to relies."

Joey had ran forwards to the edge of the cliff we were standing on, he waved to us and shouted a mock announcement about being the next duelist champion. I smirked and rolled my eyes, it sounded like something Mia would say. It felt weird not having Seth nor Mia around but I knew they were off doing their own thing to help them progress. It was like Seth not to want to be tied down and Mia was just to competitive to stand around for a long time. Travis had ran forward and was standing next to Joey looking out towards the horizan.

"He needs a reality check," Teá said, her voice full of doubt.

"He's about as smart as he looks," Tristan commented.

"Geez you guys, lighten up. Aren't you at least going to support your friend," I said turning to face the trio. "Yeah sure Joey might not be the best duelist ever but he sure has heart and that's enough to make anybody successful."

I wasn't going to let doubt get in the way of making somebody's dreams come true. Joey wanted to do this for his sister and he needed all the help he could get. I know my own brother Cyrus would never in a million years do anything, like what Joey was doing, for me. He moved out as soon as he could and that was when I was 10. Six years on I hadn't seen him once, Cyrus just didn't care about me or any of our family. That's maybe why I liked Joey, he always seemed ready to stand in for anybody who needed help. Especially his friends and family. I walked forward and took Joey's hand, he smiled at me.

"Just try your best," I said to him.

I could see Travis smirking out the corner of my eye. I knew what he was thinking and it wasn't true, but I couldn't say it outright, not right now. Maybe later. Tristan, Teá and Yugi came and stood by us a few moments later. Watching the sky was nice, it took me away from everything and just gave me a moment to think about what was going to happen. I had as much faith in Joey as I did in Mia and Seth. Those three were the ones who were going to need all the faith they could have. Even if nobody else believed in them, I was going to.

"Look there," Teá said pointing down the cliff.

"Duel monster stadiums!" Tristan exclaimed. "Look at them, they're all over."

Sure enough there were, there wasn't a doubt in my mind that down there was where Mia and Seth were, Mia probably on the sand giving her wasteland monsters a field bonus and Seth god knows where because his deck was mostly fire based monsters.

"Right!" Joey announced standing up. "I'm going in!"

"Is that really the smartest move?" Travis asked. "I mean c'mon pro's versus you Joey. That just spells loss. Besides, you can afford to lose. Remember single star chip."

Joey suddenly looked worries and I gave Travis a uninspiring look, he was always the one to bring people back to earth. While it was sometimes a good trait to have, it also could be a huge kick in the arse, especially if you were trying to get riled up for something. I gave Travis a shove.

"Don't panic, you can do this Joey," Yugi cut in, he also gave Travis a dark look. "You know that don't you?"

"I hope you're right Yugi, this'll be my first official duel and I can't afford to get knocked out at the start," Joey said honestly.

"True, but not everybody here is a pro," Yugi said with a smile. "I'm sure you can find somebody on your level."

Mia and Seth weren't pro's but they weren't total newbies either and could certainly hold their own until Travis and myself who would most certainly get our arses kicked in the first round. I looked around and down at the people who dotted the landscape, there sure were a lot of them. More than it had seemed when we were on the boat, I guess I was trying to see if I could spot Mia or Seth and although you would be able to spot Mia in a small crowd with her crazy hair, in a large open space like this made it difficult to find her. Seth was even harder to spot, he blended in too much. Seth was probably the most normal.

"You lost cry baby," came a shrill voice. "Now give me your star chips."

"A voice that annoying could only belong to Mai," Teá said sharply.

I looked over in that general direction towards the voice and spotted the person who Teá called Mai. Teá was sure was right, her voice really was annoying and loud since we could hear it and we were all standing a considerable way away from her.

"Well, look who's here," Mai said giving us a glance.

"Wow, Mai's already won two more star chips," Joey commented.

I rolled my eyes. Mai was like the type of girls I hated, loud, brash and could make any guy they wanted to stare or follow them around. I generally avoid people like that mainly because I never wanted to be like them or associate with those type of people. Plus she looked like a totally tart dressed the way she was. I looked around hoping for some way to pull everybody away, I looked to Travis who was avoiding eye contact, if he was going to end up like Joey and just agree with everything Mai said I was so going to kick him.

"Say Yugi, are your duels going well?" Mai asked mock innocently.

"Well, I'm making progress," Yugi said sounding, if anything, confused.

"You already have three star chips do you?" Mai said examining Yugi's glove. "I might be up for a duel myself."

What a subtle way of saying 'I'm wanting to make you lose because I think I'm better than everybody'. I didn't know Mai but form the impression she was giving she generally didn't seem like a nice person, more manipulating and calculating. I could honestly see the cogs in her head trying to figure out how to get the star chips from Yugi.

"Y'know, I'm defiantly in the mood for a duel right now," Mai said. "So get ready because I choose to challenge...You Joey."

"Wha' you challenge me?" Joey asked looking dumbfounded.

"Do you have the guts to accept?" Mai asked.

I was very tempted to say to Joey not to duel Mai since, as much as it was hard to admit, she seemed like a good duelist but Joey accepted the challenge not wanting to put his pride on the line in turning down a duel from a woman. I watched as Travis tried to smother laughter when it came to Joey's realisation that his dueling field wasn't all meadow like he wanted it to be, rather it was split over three different fields. Way to break at the first hurdle.

"Calm down Joey!" Yugi called. "Your monsters will still get a field power bonus on the meadow part of the field."

Joey asked Mai why she dueled and her answer was so shallow. Free perks and no work was the basic. Seth dueled for fun and Mia because she hoped that it would help her find the key to the watch. Nobody I knew dueled because of comforts that it granted. Plus Mai was an adult, somebody her age should have been working. So she wasn't just a calculating bitch she was also shallow. The duel began and to be honest things just got weirder after Joey layed his first card on the field. Mai didn't even look at her cards, she just waved her hand over them and claimed that she was psychic. If there was one thing I never believed in it was that people could see into the future, tell fortunes or anything like that. Psychic my arse. Travis also looked rather confused, I didn't know how he felt about the new development.

"Psychic? Seriously, look duel properly or don't duel at all," Travis shouted.

Joey also seemed unphased about this and attacked Mai's monster anyway not knowing that land monsters were weak to flying monsters. Smart first move. It went on like this, none of us could figure out if Mai was cheating or really was psychic but I refused to believe it. Joey really did seem to be losing it over how Mai could see her cards before playing them. Joey played another card and again forgot that he was at a disadvantage.

"Joey, listen to Yugi, stop being headstrong!" Travis shouted. "You're being distracted! Don't let yourself be!"

Joey lost yet more lifepoints and really couldn't afford to. I really wanted to shake him and tell him to get a hold of his self but I couldn't do that but I didn't seem to be the only one, Yugi looked as though he wanted to as well but all we could do was stand and watch. That was the worst part, wanting to do something but being unable to.

"Joey!" I shouted. "Stay calm, there is no such thing as psychic, just brush it off!"

I got a dirty look from Mai for announcing my disbelief in psychic powers. Mai played another card without looking which increased her monsters attack but adding, I suppose, armour to it. I rolled my neck and looked up at the sky trying to figure out myself how this was working. The rest continued to shout encouragement towards Joey but he really was beginning to lose it as well as becoming very paranoid. Mai's anti-friendship speech about how it didn't win duels really seemed to piss Teá off who seemed intent on cheering on Joey through everything and I must admit, if I was in his position I would rely on my friends to cheer me on. Besides sometimes all you need is somebody to tell you that everything is going to be fine and that you're going to do well.

"Shut yourself up!" Travis shouted. "Just because clearly you've never had friends who have cheered you on before, doesn't mean anybody else shouldn't either!"

Mai decided to play the '_you're going to have to duel your best friend eventually_' card which while true was also mean and unnecessary. I really wanted to hit Mai and make her see that her comments and attitude was really fucking prickish, especially since Joey really was trying and her freaky behaviour was ruining it.

"C'mon, let's go kid," Mai called and Joey looked up.

"I see through your card trick!" Joey announced suddenly. "You sprayed all your cards with different perfumes and by smelling which is which you can tell what each card is even when they're face down. So you don't have to look when you play your cards."

After that the duel was pretty much Joey's, Mai did put up a good fight deciding that she didn't need to mindfuck Joey to win. However this also made her very aggressive and I guess I would too if somebody saw through what seemed like a concrete strategy. Although it was cheating the whole different cent per card was pretty smart. It was wrong though which, in the end, was the main thing and in the end Mai lost. Joey did struggle with beating Mai's cards, they were basically the same throughout the whole deck.

"Awesome Joey!" I shouted pulling him into a hug when he exited the dueling arena. "You really did show her."

I watched Mai walk away and felt a little bad for her but if anything she needed this defeat to knock her into reality and besides, reality can hurt but sometimes it's also required to move on and that's what we were doing.

* * *

**~* Travis's POV *~**

I stopped for a moment and cracked my back. Joey was still going on about his win against Mai. That was one duel I was glad to see the back of and would like to forget but Joey just had to keep going on about how 'cool' he was for winning his first duel, everybody else seemed to be getting sick of his rambling too. Especially Teá

"Is there a time limit on how long he gets to crow?" Teá asked.

"Cut him some slack Teá, did you ever think he's beat Mai in a duel?" Tristan replied. "I mean Joey, who would have thought."

I sure wouldn't have thought so. I don't believe in luck or anything like that but the duel between Mai certainly was a lucky win. The bottom line was Joey wasn't as bad a duelist as he seemed or the way people made him out to be. He sure was proud of himself and had every right to be after what he had to go through to win. Just as Joey went to go back to celebrating he stomach gave one very loud rumble. I looked to Rayne who giggled, she always thought that noise was funny and so I rolled my eyes.

"Did any of you guys remember to bring food with ya'?" Joey asked.

In unison, we shook our heads. I knew Mia and Seth had brought things because if there was one thing I knew about those two was they couldn't go a few hours without eating something. Yet Seth and Mia both stayed stupidly skinny. Those type of people who could eat and eat and not gain any weight to save themselves. Tristan produced this book on what wild things were safe to eat and which weren't but there was no way in hell I was placing my life on a book brought by Tristan. I questioned whether going to find Mia and Seth just as Joey ran on by claiming he could smell something. I'd basically had no sense of smell since I was born. One time I had been sitting in my living room and something was burning in the kitchen and I couldn't smell it. Lest to say it had been a pain in the arse since I was a kid.

"Joey!" Rayne shouted. "Wait up! C'mon Travis, I honest to god smell something too."

"Fine, but only because it's you," I agreed and ran off with Rayne to follow Joey.

We ran down the edge of a cliff where Joey had stopped, he was kneeling down behind a rock. I looked around expecting him to be hiding from somebody but there was nobody around, soon Yugi and the rest joined us. Rayne and Joey were wearing the same stupid grins because of the fish that they had spotted. I'd rather starve than eat fish.

"Oh man, I just love barbecued fish." Joey commented. "And I bet it tastes even better."

With that he jumped over the rock and plonked himself down next to where the fish were cooking and a few seconds later both Rayne and Tristan had ran after him. My eyes rolled like marbles and I picked my way down towards Rayne who looked oddly pleased with herself as though she had done something amazing. I knelt down next to Rayne.

"Don't do it Ray, they aren't yours," I whispered into her ear.

"But I'm so hungry," she replied, whining a little.

Again, I rolled my eyes. I couldn't really reason with Rayne, she possessed a sort of power that made her very difficult to reason with. At times it was pretty freaky and kinda annoying but you got over it after a while.

"Enjoy yourselves, fish thieves. This is your last meal."

I jumped almost literally a mile. Rayne jumped up and ducked in behind me, her normally rosy skin had gone deathly pale. She generally did nothing wrong but being caught in the act _of stealing _she freaked out. I wrapped my arms around her and made sure that she was pressed into my back. I looked at who had addressed us and decided he didn't look all that tough, well, except for the harpoon in his hand. That was kinda scary.

"How dare you eat my fish you thieving poachers, has nobody ever taught you manors?" the guy asked.

I think the anger would have been more vicious had he not been dragged back to where he climbed up from by a huge wave. His ferocity was kind of lost on me after that, Rayne too, I could feel her laughing into my shoulder blades. She was probably thinking about what Mia would have done, which was shout back in a mocking fashion.

"All right," the guy said climbing back up. "Let's try this one more time. How dare you steal my fish, you bottom feeding thieves."

"Chill out guy," Joey said standing up, fish on the stick still in his hand. "It's just a few fish."

"A few fish that do not belong to you," the guy snapped. "And to steal a fisherman's catch proves you have no honour."

I rolled my eyes. You would think that, the way he was going on about it, that harmlessly taking a few fish was against the law. It was just downright stupid and weird. Yugi then realised that the guy was actually Mako Tsunami, top ranking ocean duelist. Him being an ocean duelist did explain why he was down by the sea. I could never use a water based deck, fish creepy me out enough dead but alive and wriggling was just too much.

"And who might you be?" Mako asked Yugi.

"Yeah, you're that freaking fish guy," Joey commented.

Rayne couldn't hold it any longer, she slipped out of my arms and rolled about on the ground laughing her head off. I don't think Joey meant it to be offensive, he was just stating a fact but it seemed that Mako took it otherwise.

"I am not a freaky fish guy," Mako retorted. "I am Mako Tsunami, duelist extraordinaire of the seven seas."

His proud speech was interrupted by both Rayne and Teá giggling stupidly. Turned out that Mako had got a fish caught onto the goggles he wore. He took it and tossed it back into the ocean as Rayne and Teá tried to control their laughter. Joey and Tristan ran slightly after the fish claiming they wanted to eat it. I could see the look Mako was giving them too, a very weary one.

"Are you telling me that those two are here as duelists?" Mako asked.

Anthropologies were exchanged and Mako seemed genuinely surprised that Joey and Tristan were friends with Yugi but soon any hostility had passed and we were all sitting down and talking like old friends. Mako's life didn't seem to bad, if you liked the ocean that was. He wanted to prize money to buy a boat so he could sail the ocean and it seemed pretty cool. My dad used to own a boat and took it with him when my parents broke up, Mako talking about wanting a boat made me wonder whether my dad still had his.

"Maybe we'll meet up in the competition," Yugi said cheerily as we walked away.

"We certainly will," I heard Mako say. "Sooner than you think my friend!"

I turned just to hear somebody fall to the ground. Rayne had fallen and between where her shins were, a harpoon was sticking out of the ground. Rayne's mouth was opening and closing of it's own accord and, to make a bad pun, she looked like a fish out of water.

"I treated you to dinner, perhaps you will honour me with a duel," Mako said, grinning sinisterly.

"You could have just asked instead of throwing fucking harpoons a people," Rayne shrieked standing up and pulling the harpoon from the ground and tossing it at Mako's feet. "You could have hit me with that you stupid wanker!"

Yugi accepted Mako's offer, albeit under a very stupid reason. The downfall of this decision was that all Mako's monsters were water based and thus under water for a large majority of the time. Around Mako's fucking huge fish monsters were making me uncomfortable. Okay, so I had a fear of fish, I fell into a pond once and there were tons of fish in it. I couldn't look at a fish the same way after that. It's carried over onto now and seeing this duel made me wanna puke. I moved closer to Rayne who had knelt down next to the edge of the cliff.

"Yugi's gonna need all the luck he can get," Rayne said to me. "Stupid under water fish monsters."

"Amen to that sister," I said jokingly.

I sat back on my hands, my legs hanging over the cliff and watched the duel. Everybody agreed that the duel between Yugi and Mako was unfair due to not being able to actually see Mako's monsters. It couldn't be against the rules so we just had to roll with it. Mako's monster turned out be one fucking huge octopus. It went on like this for a while. Mako would summon a monster, Yugi would too. We wouldn't be able to see Mako's monster and then it would tear Yugi's to pieces, hardly a fair match. Plus the fish sounded as though they were growling, which was bloody weird.

"The ocean is not a living thing, it has living things in it but the water is not alive!" I shouted after a while.

Eventually Yugi realised that he could use an monster that used electric attacks to, in turn, attack Mako's submerged monsters. Pretty clever since water was a huge conductor of electricity. Rayne sat up straighter. The plan was good but backfired thanks to Mako's giant jellyfish and it's ability to absorb electricity thus protecting all his creatures. Another summoning on Yugi's part caused the seas to rise allowing Mako to summon and even bigger fish.

"Your wolf is brave Yugi," Mako announced "But he will not stand before my Kairyu-Shin's tidal attack."

And Yugi's wolf drowned. There was no other way to say that Yugi was being slaughtered by Mako in this duel. Yugi was left with but a small patch of land for his monsters to be played upon. Then things changed, Mako told us how his dad was lost at sea. I guess I judged too harshly, Mako was only fighting to find his dad. His reason to duel was one of the best, fighting to find a family member. A few more card draws later and it was down to the final turn. Yugi's stone soldier destroyed the moon card he had in play causing the sea to recede meaning that all Mako's monsters were unable to attack.

"Yes!" I shouted jumping up. "You did it Yugi, you beat the freaky fish guy!"

Mako really was a great duelist but even so, Yugi deserved to win, he came back from the bottom and came out on top. I just hoped Mia and Seth were doing as well.

"You know something Rayne," I said as we headed away from Mako.

"What?" Rayne asked.

"I really hate fish."

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	8. Unity

**Title:** Life Mentality

**By: **RayOfDarkSunshine

**Summary:** Four friends were walking just down the street when they, literately, fell down the bunny hole. Not into Wonderland however, into Yu-Gi-Oh.

**A/N: **Stupid school, giving me too much homework. Honestly. Well, it was my birthday on the 20th so I was meant to update but didn't cause I was out and then school swamped me and I haven't been near my computer since. Derp. Well, here's chapter 8. I'm sorry it's short but I'm meant to be revising for tests, note the meant to, but either way I hope you like it. I'll try and update again tonight and hopefully on Sunday too. Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 8: **Unity

/_Put your hands in the air if you hear me out there. I've been looking for you day and night. Shine a light in the dark let me see where you are, 'cause I'm not gonna leave you behind_/ Unity by Shinedown

~*Travis's POV*~

I rolled my eyes. Teá was harking on about how Yugi already had five star chips but I really couldn't care less. I thought Yugi's ego was meant to be small but the amount of inflating that Teá and the rest were doing, by the end of this tournament it would probably be the size of Kaiba's. And that's saying something. I think Rayne felt the same way but I couldn't tell, she was being pretty quiet. I ran a hand through my hair, my fringe was growing out and badly needed cut but there wasn't much I could do about it right now.

"Help!" somebody shouted.

"Did you guys here that?" Rayne asked.

"Somebody help me please!" the person shouted again.

Rayne took off in a run in the direction of the voice. I don't understand why though, it's not like it was something to do with her. Then again, Rayne had this affinity that she wants to try and help everybody and although it's sweet, it's not the best thing in the world. I mean it's hard enough trying to deal with your own problems, let alone other peoples. One of Pegasus's suit guys was dragging some poor kid away and not even kindly at that, he literally had him by the neck and forcibly dragging him away. This was the first time I'd seen Tristan take action.

"Let that kid go!" Tristan called and actually flipped the suit guy over.

"Tristan, when did you become superman?" Rayne asked looking kinda shocked.

It didn't last long because as quick as the guy was down, he was straight back up. Either he was a ninja or a gymnast because there was no way in hell that any _normal _person could pull that off. To be honest I felt bad for the kid, he kept being manhandled by the suit guy. I groaned and decided to step up a bit even though I could feel my hand shaking. Probably because any wrong move and me, Teá, Tristan _and _Rayne could all get thrown out for not actually being allowed on the island in the first place.

"What's your problem. Huh?" I asked sharply.

"That's none of your business," the suit guy said. "This duelist lost his star chips and the rules say he's to be kicked off the island."

Yeah, smart move. None of our business but you tell us anyway. The kid started yelling about how he didn't loose his star chips, they were stolen from him. His deck too. Thieving was wrong, everybody knew that by why bother to steal star chips and a deck, it just seemed mighty pathetic. I raised my eyebrows. We decided to follow the suit guy to where a small boat was which included more duelists who had lost (and to my glee Weevil too).

"What did the guy who stole your star chips look like?" Yugi asked.

"Well I couldn't see his face, it was covered with a bandanna, but he was a little guy and he challenged me in the meadow," the kid said.

"Seriously?" Rayne asked. "He challenged you to a duel?"

"Yeah but as soon as I put my star chips and deck down, he snatched them up and ran off with them," the kid said, obviously very pissed off.

Okay, so the kid a had a legit reason why he shouldn't be kicked off the island and it kinda sucked the he was going to be because of some stupid crappy rules. I don't see why he could get kicked off, then again he also had no proof that he wasn't lying so he didn't have to leave. He sounded mad enough though and it's really hard to feign anger at the best of times, especially a story that sounded as concrete as his.

"You shouldn't be shipped off the island for that, don't worry we'll get your star chips back," Yugi said determinedly.

"Are you serious!" Rayne snapped suddenly. "Yugi, you don't have time for this. If haven't remembered, we're here to save your grandpa."

"This boat leaves in exactly 30 minutes," the suit guy said, cutting off Rayne. "Anybody without a star chip ships out."

"Then we'll get his star chips back by that time," Teá said confidently.

I could see Rayne silently raging out of the corner of my eye. Seems like she didn't find the kids missing star chips a big deal. Eventually she couldn't hold it in anymore and grabbed the back of Yugi's jacket.

"You have got to be kidding me Yugi," Rayne snapped. "We don't have time for this. The more time you spend faffing around solving other people's problems, the less time you're spending trying to get your own star chips."

"We have to help him though," Yugi said weakly.

"Look, I'm all for helping people out but right now is not the time, god knows what's happening to your grandpa," Rayne let go of Yugi. "Did you forget that or something?"

That was blow below the belt. I know Rayne meant well but she was being harsh and that wasn't fair. I grabbed Rayne back and walked off a bit, she looked back to see the rest of the guys trying to come up with a way to find the kid's thief. Rayne looked mighty pissed at me, but for once I couldn't care less.

"Look Rayne, that was mean," I snapped. "I get that you're wanting to speed things along but that's not going to happen."

"Don't you see Travis, that each second is crucial and they're wasting it trying to play god," Rayne snapped looking frustrated.

"I know but some people just have different priorities, you need to see that," I said gently.

Rayne sighed and looked to the ground, absently kicking dirt before looking up at me again. Now she just looked upset, I frowned.

"Something else wrong?" I asked. "You can tell me."

"I don't want any of this," Rayne whispered. "I didn't want to come here but I was afraid of being left, I just went along with things."

"You could have said something Rayne, I would have stayed with you," I replied.

Again Rayne sighed, she really didn't want to be here. It was obvious she was missing her home, family and even Mia and Seth who had gone AWOL. I pulled Rayne into a loose hug, she needed the most support. My friends weren't weak but, like normal people, things got to them and being away from family was one of them. I know Seth didn't care because he hated his family, my mum my younger brother Gavin, Mia had her brother Ryan and little sister Emi but Rayne was the only child in her family.

"What do you think happened Trav?" Rayne asked. "Do you think we went missing or is it like we were never born?"

"I can't say Rayne, I really can't say," I replied honestly.

Rayne sighed again, took my hand and headed back over to the rest of the guys. We wouldn't speak of what went down. We sat with the rest as Tristan made jokes about the size of Joey's brain (small) as somebody jumped out of the bushes. Everybody is turning into freaking ninja's these days and I want to know how.

"I found you at last Yugi," the guy said.

I bit back at laugh, everybody else seemed shocked that somebody had just emerged from the bushes but they were half the size of me. It was like a little kid trying to be intimidating but just ending up sounding really adorable so everybody was shocked, except me because I didn't see how this midget was going to be intimidating.

"I think I know what this kids after," Yugi said cutting Joey and Tristan's 'threats' off. "He wants to duel."

"Yeah because you're totally psychic," Rayne cut in. "If this is the guy we're looking for, he's half our size and probably half our age. Just take the damn things and cut the shit."

Everybody ignored Rayne and Yugi and the kid went to duel anyway. Cue more silent raging from Rayne. Then came the weird part, Yugi 'sensed' that the kid was actually Kaiba's brother, Mokuba.

"_Since when did Kaiba have a brother?_" I thought.

The more Mokuba explained what happened and how Pegasus was trying to take over Kaiba Corp, the more I actually felt a little bit sorry for him. He was only trying to help out his brother which I guess, in fairness, was justified _but_ he is Kaiba's brother which means that there was no way I was going to trust him just yet. The downside was that Mokuba kept blaming Yugi which certainly wasn't justified since clearly it was because Kaiba couldn't take loosing which was crap. Shows how big an ego he had. The duel didn't last long to say the least, while Teá, Tristan and Joey were figuring out why Mokuba was doing what he was, the little shit ran up and nicked some of Yugi's star chips.

"Stop you little rat!" Rayne shouted running after Mokuba

It take long for him to stop since Yugi was going on about how after their duel he, somehow, did something to Kaiba. I didn't really understand it and I wasn't really paying that much attention either. But we seemed to have gained and ally since Mokuba agreed to help us if we helped him which was a good deal. So soon it turned into one crazy sprint down to where the boat with that kid on it so we could return his stuff which was a waste of time since in the end the boat had already left.

"Perhaps you should stop being such a giant prick," Rayne called from behind me.

The suit guy really was a mean one. He attempted to take Mokuba right from under us, Yugi however stepped in and, again, challenged him to duel. We had four hours to kill between dueling Pegasus's creepy suit guy and where we were now but those hours just seemed to come past in a matter of seconds.

"I really wanna punch that guy," I muttered to Rayne. "I thought this was a kid friendly duel."

"Yeah, same here," Rayne muttered back.

Turns out it wasn't going to be the suit guy Yugi was dueling but Kaiba...At least I think it was Kaiba. He sure looked creepier than the last time I saw him.

"That's not Kaiba," Rayne whispered to me.

"I figured," I replied.

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